Florida’s local and statewide races brought Gainesville voters to the polls in full force this Election Day.
More than 180,729 Alachua County residents are registered voters, and about 30% or 54,000 voted in the primaries. A total of 87,542 Alachua County residents voted in the general election, as of 7 p.m. Tuesday. Votes are still coming in.
One of them was Orion Dunaway, a 23-year-old artist and Live Oak resident, made an hour-long trek to Gainesville to cast his ballot. He just moved out of town but is still registered to vote at Alachua County’s 39th precinct.
“I lived in Gainesville my whole life, so even the local stuff is still important to me,” he said. “Making sure the future is as good for me as I can get it to be, and everyone else.”
Dunaway specifically kept an eye out for Marihelen Wheeler, Democratic candidate for the District 2 Alachua County Commission seat — his middle school art teacher.
“I really love her,” Dunaway said. “I vote for her every time she’s up there.”
Khahi Valegard, a 31-year old artist and Dunaway’s roommate in Live Oak, came with Dunaway to vote in his first election. It was important to cast his ballot after witnessing the results of the 2020 election, when he abstained from voting.
“Probably should’ve done it for the last election,” Valegard said. “Regretted not.”
Selene Hsu, an 18-year-old UF biomedical engineering freshman, voted Tuesday in her first general election. She cast her ballot to make her voice heard, she said.
“It’s really important for people to vote if you want to see some change,” Hsu said.
The race for U.S. Senate was particularly important to Hsu, who cast her vote for Democratic nominee Val Demings.
“The issues that she’s advocating for are really representative of me,” Hsu said.
Some voters felt strongly about the governor’s race between incumbent Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and Democratic candidate Charlie Crist.
Joseph Wilber, a 38-year-old Middleburg resident and computer technician, said he planned to vote later Tuesday in his hometown. He’s not sure who he’ll vote for aside from the major races.
Wilber’s sticking with DeSantis for his gubernatorial pick. The incumbent’s last four years in office were on track with expectations, he said.
“He hasn’t screwed it up yet,” Wilber said.
Carolina Fernandez, a 19-year-old Santa Fe political science sophomore, said she voted mainly because of inflation. She hopes to see more Republicans get into office, she said.
“A lot of college students with gas prices, for example — it’s just so high right now,” she said. “I want to see Republicans come back.”
Sean Cunningham, a 20-year-old UF musical theater junior, voted as a registered Democrat at the Reitz Union precinct.
Crist particularly caught his interest, he said. Crist’s key issues are those of particular importance to him, he said, and are topics he would like to see well represented.
He would like to see changes made, compelling him to vote in this election cycle, he said.
“It’s a tough battle to fight in the state of Florida,” he said. “But I thought I’d come out and make my voice heard nonetheless.”
He felt the Wild Spaces and Public Spaces half-cent sales tax on the general election ballot was vital to instituting important infrastructure improvements in both Gainesville and the state of Florida in its entirety.
“That was a big one that I definitely wanted to circle in yes for,” he said.
Isaac Smith, a 31-year-old second year UF medical student, was at the polls to vote against DeSantis, he said.
As a first time voter in Florida, Smith doesn’t know much about Gainesville politics, but he does know that he doesn’t like who DeSantis appointed as the surgeon general of the state, General Dr. Joseph A. Ladapo.
“I think he’s a bully and displays autocratic behavior,” Smith said.
Jose Cosme, a 23-year-old UF animal sciences senior, said he didn’t vote for DeSantis, because of how he handled conservation.
“I think sadly what happened with Ron DeSantis for a while was he fooled them into thinking he cares about conservation,” he said.
Madison Chery, a 19-year-old music sophomore, said she wants DeSantis out.
She voted for Demings, but she was hesitant because of her background as the Orlando Police Chief.
“As a Black woman, I don’t really support the police system,” Chery said. “I’ve never supported it. Honestly, I’m just picking the lesser of the two evils.”
Miranda Millard-Bruzos, an 18-year-old UF environmental science freshman, said she swayed toward voting for more Democratic candidates.
“I voted more democratically because those ideas align more with what I believe,” Millard-Bruzos said. “Anybody who was more about preserving the environment rather than using those resources and kind of degrading them, I went for.”
The Additional Homestead Property Tax Exemption amendment caught her attention as a positive initiative, she said. She felt it was important to reduce this tax for those considered to be a part of the critical public service workforce, she added.
“I did like the idea of reducing homestead tax for teachers and other people who do help our community just because, especially for teachers, they don’t get as much pay as they should,” she said.
Gale Kempner, a 78-year-old Gainesville resident, was passing Democratic slate sheets to voters for the Alachua County Democratic Party. This is her first time working outside the polls for the party — a trip she said this election was important enough to warrant.
Though she’s been a registered Democrat for more than 50 years, Kempner said the stakes of this year’s ballot inspired her to get involved past just voting. With candidates like Gov. Ron DeSantis and Sen. Marco Rubio up for re-election. Kempner said this year’s election is one of the most important for the Democratic ticket.
“If we don’t get a Democratic Congress, we’re in big trouble,” Kempner said. “Nothing will ever get done.”
Will Caldron voted in Alachua for the first time today since moving from Osceola County. Caldron, a 32-year-old UF Health employee, said he voted for politicians who’d alleviate the burdens of homelessness.
“There’s a lot of people on the streets — Gainesville seven years ago, we didn’t see a lot of people panhandling,” he said.
Caldron voted for Casey Willits, Democratic candidate for Gainesville City Commission District 3,after the candidate knocked on Caldron’s door last week.
“Voting might make a difference in helping these people get out of the streets,” Caldron said, “so they can receive some type of help or rehab.”
Austin Nelson, a 24-year-old UF lab technician, said he was voting for a primarily Democratic ticket but was interested to see if there were any third-party options.
“For the most part, I’m making sure the city doesn’t swing too much to the side of Ron DeSantis and the judges they would elect,” Nelson said.
While neither of the two major parties represent his beliefs, the Democrats are somewhat closer, Nelson said.
A lot of it has to do campaign contributions, Nelson said. Politicians getting donations from large and even small businesses influences their behavior, and he thinks that goes for both parties.
“I would ideally like to elect candidates that do not receive money from either large corporations or Super PACs or any special interests,” Nelson said.
Heather Bushman, Lauren Brensel, Averi Kremposky, Rylan DiGiacomo-Rapp, Anushka Dakshit and Brandon Hernandez contributed to this report.
